Wednesday, February 6, 2013

World Wise Schools, Part 3

World Wise Schools is a program through Peace Corps where
volunteers serving in various countries are connected with teachers in the
States.We are either randomly
selected for a teacher or we can choose.The Peace Corps volunteer shares info with the students about the
country through letters and e-mails, and if appropriate, matches students to
write to each other.

The Yakima students we have been paired with mostly come
from Mexican American backgrounds, and many were born there or are first generation
Americans.For almost all of them,
English is a second language.

We paired up with students from our village basic school,
which serves grades 1-9.The
students that wrote back were from grades 7-9, and were anywhere between the
ages of 12 and 19, as repeating a grade several times is not uncommon in
Zambia.All of the students who
responded speak Lunda only in the homes, and get basic English instruction at
school.The deputy headmaster
hand-picked his best and brightest English students from the school.Most of the selected students were
male, as many girls in the village don’t stay in school past 4th or
5th grade.

Just a few examples, with as little editing as possible, of
our third batch:

Dear Zambian student,

I do like bisicles and books my favorit book is
“Narnia.”I would also like to now
wats your favorit food and book.

Also I am in grad 8 and I ame going to grade 9.I have 2 sisters and one brother.I like living hear because I hav lots
of caring frends who care about me and who lisin to my sad days and happy
days.They take care of me and
lisin to me.I also love writing
and playing football and fishing.

Dear Zambian student,

How have you been?I am doing wonderful.I am
wondering what your favorite color is, mine are black, green, and red.Also do you have music there?We have varities of music to listen to
that would interest us.

So what are the hard things at your school.For me it would be science.I find it challenging and kind of
complicated.

Do the friends you got their good or terrible, please
describe them.The friends I got
are cool and sometimes trustworthy.

The united states is an awesome place to be.Hope you can come by.

Dear Zambian student,

Here in America It Is getting cold because It is Fall real
close to Christmas.I can’t wait
until Christmas.Everything Is
beautiful there are lights at night that glow up white snow.Everywhere yes it is cold but a cup of
warm chocolate makes it all better.The snow is cold but it sure looks pretty.In my family there Are six.I have two brothers my sister, my mom, and my dad.I am the smallest one the rest are
older than me.I have pets.Also I have 3 birds, 2 Dogs, and 1
kitty.I Do go to school.I go in eighth grade at Washington
Middle School.I am Also very
sorry to hear that you and your family are suffering.I wish I could help, but I do not have the supplies to help,
I am too young.Do you play
sports?Are you learning to speak
English?I speak 2 languages Spanish
and English.I am very glad that I
got the chance to write to you.Oh
by the way Do you have parents?

Dear Zambian student,

I am so happy to write back.My favorite subject is art.We get draw, color, and work with clay.My favorite food is chicken with rice J.When I grow up I want to be a famous
singer.I love listening to
music.Especially listening to One
Direction.One Direction is the
best boy band.They are Zayn,
Harry, Liam, Niall, and Lanis.My
favorite member is Zayn (my future husband)Another language I speak is Spanish.Spanish is my first language.I have seen a lot of wild animals at
the zoo.Mrs. Wilson took us to
the zoo as a field trip.I love
going to the zoo because I love animals.After school I always watch tv.I love watching music videos especially One Direction.

Dear American Student,

I am your friend.I thank you for this letter I got.I hope and trust you are ok.And thanks for sending this letter to me again.And my friend what type of food we heat
in America?And what types of
animal.I want the help from you
to help me about the education so I want to tell you about the examination that
I was write last year 2012.My
friend I am the highyest in the primary school grade 7 and 8 subject.I have 656 markes.So the total number of subject is 800
markes.I want to know your
subject that you do well at school.And me my subject the I do very well is maths and my definont subject is
English.

Dear American student,

I am your new friend from Africa, am doing grade nine for
this year 2013.I got have 15
years old.In my class my favorite
subject is mathematics.I sometime
during thte holidays I am I am practicint to diging the gardens, some
vegetables which I like to grow are rape, onions and so on.And Also am acting some dramas.Am a fine boy.We are only two, am a first born from
our family am a boy and my sister is a girl.I love to go to school every day I don’t want to losing my
school.And when I complete my
school I want to be a soldiere.

Dear American student,

I am 15 years old.I wat to ask you a quation if you are going to church or not?But I going to church too much.

I wat to tell you about my family.In my family there are eight.I have three brothers, three sisters, mom and dad.I am (number) five in my family.In here in Zambia there are no white
snow because of there are too much sun.In my family we don’t have dogs because dogs are catching a chickens and
goats.I am going to school in
grade nine.In my family we are
fuffering about money, clothers and brackets.Pleas if you wat you can help me.

Dear American student,

Thank you for letter.I am writing you this letter.How are you bean.Im doing
wonderful.And if your wondering I
am a boy.My favorite hobbies are
watching movies, play soccer and so on.

My favorite subject in school is religious education class
because I like doing the activities.When I grow up I want to be a foot baller proffesional soccer
player.I am trust you because you
are friend.I can tell her
anything and I know she won’t tell anyone.Well I wonder what it’s like where you live.I am finished writing this letter.God bless you my best friend.

Dear American student,

How are you by this moment of time?I am doing wonderful.I am try to show you my things, I like
watch football, television and I like to play with my classmates even listen to
music like Jolly because my friend calling me, “you jolly person.”

My hard subject is maths, me science is simple.This science is helping me because me I
want to be a scientice.

Here I have Godfrey he is good to me we are friends and we
are at class at the same way.My
penple can you help me about this maths?

About Me

Gina is an occupational therapist and Scott was a fisheries biologist in Yakima, WA. We decided to take a mid-career break to explore new cultures and parts of the world. We have finished a 27-month assignment in rural Zambia with the U.S. Peace Corps working in the fields of public health and fish farming. We are taking advantage of this period of unemployment and traveling before returning to the United States.